Those with limited abilities in Albania find it impossible to find a job

However, data collected by Balkan Investigative Journalism Network, B The IRN, and the Voice of America, show that the law is not implemented not only by private companies but also by public institutions.

Restricted persons in Albania are twice as likely to remain out of the workforce, due to disrespect of the law by state institutions and private companies.

Andy Cani goes two-three times a week at Gramshi City Office, even though he doesn't work there. 32 years old graduate of journalism and communication also owns a Master-level degree in public relations.

I've met the new mayor since he was a candidate, and he promised to consider my problem,” said Cani, who has been looking for a job for three years.

I submitted a request to the Gramsh municipality in 2016. I have been informed and no one in this city has finished this branch. They told me you're out of proportion, we'll see the structure in 2017, in 2017, they told me we'll look at the structure in 2018, and so on,” Cani, who belongs to a community of people who can't see.

Albanian legislation sets concrete obligations for employers in the public and private sector, in terms of employment of persons belonging to this category. However, data collected by BIRN through requests for information rights from the country's main ministries and municipalities show the law is not implemented.

The State Labour Inspectorate acknowledges that laws are not implemented either by private companies, while adding that the establishment of administrative measures against employers, who did not meet the obligation to employ persons with limited abilities, has been impossible.

Experts and job activists for disabled persons complain that the government does very little to ensure access and stability to this vulnerable social category in the labour market.

They call for completing the regulatory framework with sublegal acts and training of working inspectors for implementation of legislation, while underlining that the government should create favourable conditions for businesses and companies that employ disabled people and invest more in their schooling.

Meanwhile, the Gramshi municipality told BIRN that even this year there were no job openings in the facility, which answered Andy Cani's academic profile.

The “we have considered but the education profile should also be seen, because working positions should be adjusted to the education profile,” said Joanna Zani, responsible for human resources at the Gramsh Together. “anyway in the 2020 facility is expected to predict several locations to respond to some people for employment,” she added.

State Breaks Law

According to a publication of the National Statistics Institute, I NSTAT, titled “Prophilia of disabled people in Albania”, 6.2% of the country's adult population has claimed there is at least a limited capacity, while they are twice as likely to be out of the workforce as other people. According to the same document, 1 out of 5 young people (15-24) with visual restrictions is looking for work, but they find it impossible to find one.

For the number of disabled persons, employing them is almost existing,” says of BIRN Sinan Tafaj, former head of the National Council of Restricted Skills. According to a study conducted by Albania's Blind Association, only 5% of those in this category are employed in the country.

The chairman of Albania's Association of Persons With Curitious Slumber Injuries, Sokol Murataj, says that even for this category of disabled people, employment has become a nightmare.

Unfortunately, the employment situation in Albania for paraplegics, but for other groups especially the blind, it is quite problematic,” he said.

Under law “for promoting employment”, each employer must employ a person who belongs to the category of persons with limited skills at every 25 first employees and an additional person for every other 50 company employees. But data collected by BIRN indicates that this obligation is neither respected by public institutions nor by private companies.

In the 7 ministries of the line where BIRN managed to obtain data, there were only 9 disabled people employed among thousands of employees. Three of those institutions -- the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Justice, without including institutions under the addiction -- had no people employed with limited capacity. Although these ministries have done hundreds of employment over the past two years, the period during which the law “was in force for promoting employment”, quotas for employing disabled persons have not been respected.

After hearing Prime Minister Edi Rama's call in January of this year, Christiana Sterjo decided to apply on the employment platform of the senior students in the state administration. At the age of 6, Christiana was diagnosed with leukemia, which forced her to undergo therapy that cured her of her illness but caused her side effects, leaving her in a wheelchair. Despite the difficulties life has faced, it has completed its Civil and Trade Law studies with an average of 9.3, but unfortunately failed to announce the winner, as the employment quotas envisioned in the law are not respected.

“I hope that the second application will do something while I've made it clear and that part that I'm with limited ability of”, she said. The “was a gathering that was held and said they would consider the next phase,” added 24-year-old, but the results of the 25 October contest did not again list it among 143 winners.

The employment situation for disabled people is equally bleak in local government. The data provided by BIRN from 17 municipalities shows that there were only 44 disabled employees in total. Six of the 17 local government units that responded to BIRN's request for information had zero disabled employees. Joining the highest number of disabled employees were Pogradec, Gramshi and Mirdita, with a total of 22 employees from this social category. Of the 11 municipalities that declare disabled employees, Tirana has the lowest number in proportion to the total employees, with only two people with limited capabilities of 6815 employed.

Legal oil for private sector

Johnan “Centre, which supports people with the syndrome édown '%, opened a coffee bar two years ago, where he employed a young man with limited skills in the waiter's position. Bess' employment was part of the national employment programme for people with special needs, but his contract has already ended along with the programme supporting him.

Bess' subservative contract was completed on September 15th, and this programme also, so we now offer independence courses for young men in the centre, so that we can integrate into other jobs,” says Gracian Till, manager at the station of Jacob”.

“We are expecting answers from several businesses and locals we have contacted to enable the employment and integration of these young people with the syndrome down,” he added.

In parallel with the demand for employment in the state, Christiana Sterjo has been interested and applied to various jobs in the private sector, but even these efforts have failed.

The first response I received after I told you about my disease was that we don't have the necessary infrastructure, for example we're on the 4th floor, 5th we don't have an elevator,” it shows.

Like the public sector, the private sector does not apply quotas for employing disabled people. According to data from the National Employment Service, during 2018 the employment of 138 people, while for 2017 this number was about 56% lower, with only 78 total employees.

Irida Qosja, responsible for the Accounting Sector for Labour Relations at the State Labour Inspectorate, told BIRN that this institution has faced serious problems in terms of law enforcement due to the failure of the Social Employment Fund, where the employer could issue a minimum wage, unless the obligation for PAK employment was met.

The fund's “Non-creating made legal vacuum, so employers could escape this obligation by not addressing the issue,” Qosja said.

“The Inspectorate, the institution tasked with implementing this law and which the law gives it the right to impose legal sanctions for its failure to implement it, under this legal vacuum, had it impossible to exercise its competence, completely,” she added.

According to Qosjas, these problems are expected to be solved with the new law, which has entered into force in March of this year. However, even this law remains unmet because acts under law have not been adopted.

The new “lici has made a quota reevaluation. The amount will be the fund and who the fund will be, will be determined by the minister's instructions, which is the law's sub-legal law enforcement act “for promoting employment”, but which in this law is designed to close within 12 months of entry into force,” Qosja said.

“We are in the situation the law needs to be completed to find full implementation,” she added.

New Law, Old Problems

Unlike Qosja, experts criticise changes in the law “for promoting employment”, adopted in March of this year, as their chances of employing disabled persons have decreased.

The law on promoting employment, instead of improving, deteriorated,” said Sokol Murataj. Before the changes, the PAK employment quotas were 1 for every 25 employees, while the new law sets up the concept of additional “for every other 50 employees,” he added.

Critical of recent amendments to the legislation is former head of the National Council of Persons with Limited Skills, Sinan Tafaj.

“These are digit games, which have deteriorated not because of the fact that 2 out of 75 in a business is better than 1 in 25, but the question is how many businesses there are in Albania that have 75 employees,” he argues. So the question is, by increasing it, there is something positive because you become less of a burden to business, but on the other hand, it has been reduced by 3 times to finding companies that have this number,” added Tafaj.

Experts criticise and the government's chosen form for implementing quotas and the obligation to spill a minimum wage into the Social Employment Fund. According to them, the state has decided to fine private businesses that do not employ disabled persons, but for themselves, it shows no desire to hire and trust responsibilities.

The “is a measure, not only drastic, but also unreasonable because getting a PAK first means creating working conditions. But these kinds of costs you cannot charge business,” said Tafaj.

The state must take steps to adjust these, what the state should pay for and what it will take. If the private creates all the conditions and then for not legitimate reasons refuses, then it can be fined, but not wear that load directly,” he adds.

Even for Muratay, the administrative measures burdening privates are not the best way to integrate disabled people into the labour market.

This measure is unfair, because it is the first state to meet its obligations as a professional formation, the adaptation of jobs,”, he said. “So frankly, the state considers our employment a burden, which it aims to dismiss to employers,” added Murataj.

According to them, the government should take serious policies towards employment of disabled people, given their educational level.

The responsible “institutions do not understand a fact, that disabled persons should be competitive in the market and to be competitive, they must prepare professionally,” said Tafaj.

Also, according to Tafajt, another area for government work is self-employment.

We have blind, who are good professionals in various fields: physical therapy, attorney, in the arts, but the possibility of their self-employment has been reduced because the state does not really support their efforts,” he underlined.

Despite legal amendments debates, Plejada Gugashi, a work rights expert at the Centre "Olaf Palme" says the importance of meeting the law with sublaw acts.

The process of meeting the legal framework with sublaw acts, as well as making it functional of institutions envisioned by law, should be accelerated,” said.

According to Gugash, there is also a need for training of labour inspectors in implementing legislation in terms of persons with limited skills and continued control over entities by the Labour Inspectorate for implementation of labour legislation.

The effective clarification and implementation of administrative sanctions for cases when legal predictions for this category do not apply,” she stressed.

Sokol Murataj says for persons with limited skills, employment is more than a salary, but also serves to integrate this social category into society.

When we get hired means society has accepted us as active members of it,” he said. “The employment phenomenon for us, apart from the meaning it has for all others, contains in itself first, respect and protection of human dignity, but also increasing the level of the social-economic standard,” Murataj added.

Christiana Sterjo, the new highly-advanced graduate lawyer, calls for society not to turn its back on people with limited abilities.

The “may be just such a group of people, but remember that life is never known: tomorrow it may be you or one of your family members in this position,” she said. “This position, you may not understand without being yourself, but it's important that we have some support, because we're also worth”, Christiana concluded.